In the News (Fri 18 Aug 17)

Venezuela was a relatively neglected colony in the 1500s and 1600s as the Spaniards focused on extracting gold and silver from other areas of the Americas.

Its stated goal is to develop a South American bloc prior to engaging in negotiations with the U.S. Manufacturing contributed an estimated 17% of GDP in 2005, growing by 9%.

Venezuela is currently advocating regional integration through its PetroCaribe and PetroSur petroleum initiatives, the creation of a South American Community of Nations, and the establishment of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (a social integration project proposed by President Chavez as an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas).

The United States of Venezuela is now composed of twenty federal states and a federal district, the seat of the national government, the capital of which is Caracas.

The State now provides, under the head of ecclesiastical appropriations, only for the maintenance of prelates and chapters, and that with really insufficient sums, although, when the tithes were abolished by the Decree of 6 April, 1833, an engagement was entered into "to defray the expenses of public worship".

The administration of this Church, as of most of the Venezuelan Churches, was formerly regulated by the synodal constitutions enacted at Caracas in 1687; at present all the dioceses are governed under the Pastoral Instruction promulgated by the Venezuelan episcopate in the Conference of 23 May to 27 July, 1904.

Venezuela is divided into 23 states (estados), 1 Capital District (Distrito Capital) and the Federal Dependencies (Dependencias Federales de Ultramar) that consist of a large number of Venezuelan islands.

From 1863 to the early 1900s there were numerous territorial changes, including the merger and splitting of states, but from then until the late 1990s the states were left unchanged.

UNITED NATIONS  The United States is lobbying hard to block Venezuela's bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, fearful that Hugo Chavez, its fiercely anti-American president, will disrupt the body as it confronts hot issues such as Iran and Sudan.

The topic of Venezuela's candidacy is so touchy that some governments which oppose it have ordered their officials not to discuss it.

Venezuela denies it will be a spoiler in the council, but promises to stand up for poor countries.

Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and New Granada, which became Colombia).

Venezuela’s prevailing political calm came to an end in 1989, when Venezuela experienced riots in which more than 200 people were killed in Caracas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelastated that "The Bolivarian Government believes that the decision made by the Government of the United States is framed in the continued and aggressive policy implemented by the North-American imperialism against Venezuela, which is based on a low-intensity conflict scenario.

It was a meeting to recognize the electoral triumph of Hugo Chavez on 3 December and, in particular, to acknowledge the contribution of campaign workers organized in the Comando Miranda.

Venezuela's confirmation of its anti-imperialist, democratic socialist revolution through the decisive re-election of president Hugo Chávez this week opens the way for major expansion of its free "womb to tomb" public education program.

Venezuela December 3 elections: “What is at stake is the future of the revolutionary process itself”

The program of political intervention in Venezuela is one more of various in the world principally directed by the Department of State (DS), the Agency for International Development (AID), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) along with its four associated foundations.

Then, beginning in 1975 with the defeat of the United States in Vietnam, coupled with the investigations of the CIA that took place that year in both houses of Congress, resulting in constant scandals culminating with Watergate, a new school of thought among high level American foreign policy makers emerged.

The United States had imposed an economic embargo in 1985 to worsen the situation, and in breach of the Esquipulas Agreements, that included a ceasefire, the contras were not demobilized.

Venezuela is fast becoming a leader in regional integration in the hemisphere, particularly in the promotion of viable alternatives to corporate globalization and the "free trade" model.

Venezuela is also working to create the first Latin American news channel, TeleSur, to offer an alternative to foreign corporate media, and the establish of PetroAmérica— the first fully integrated, Latin American oil company.

We invite you to travel to Venezuela with Global Exchange to dig past the headlines and explore the changes occurring in Venezuela, Latin America and the hemisphere as a whole.

Venezuela emerged from that coalition in 1830 to become an independent nation.

In that regard, the then popular election of President Hugo Chavez in 1999 has now caused considerable controversy, especially within the United States, as Venezuela has some of the largest proven oil reserves outside of the Middle East and President Chavez is using same as a regional threat and bargaining chip.

Worth noting - the U.S. Department of State and other western governments warns their citizens of the dangers of travel to some of the countries in South America, and Venezuela is one of those countries.

The report correctly noted, however, that it was not Venezuela but the U.S. government, solely for political reasons, that has discontinued the bilateral technology and information energy exchange agreement between our two countries that had been successfully ongoing for over 20 years.

When Venezuela finishes its certification process of the Orinoco Belt, more than 230 billion barrels of oil will be added to Venezuela’s official proved reserves, which will make Venezuela the largest holder of oil reserves in the world, exceeding even Saudi Arabia.

In this regard, there is a significant disconnect in GAO’s analysis between a described strike scenario in Venezuela causing the cessation of Venezuela’s oil exports and a purposeful cut-off of supplies by the Venezuelan government.

In this small, strategically situated place, he added, “Chávez and the United States are seeking the same thing, and for the same reason: to make Uruguay a test case” for their widely varying visions of the region.

Not to be outdone, the United States has countered with a proposal to build a medical and dental clinic near a working-class area of Montevideo.

Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela have been deteriorating steadily since Chavez, a former army paratrooper, an anti-globalist and fiery leftist, was elected in December 1998.

Today Secretary of State Rice headed off to her first South American mission, visiting Venezuela's two big neighbors, Brazil and Colombia, but with no stop in Venezuela on her itinerary.

RAY SUAREZ: Now recently, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, documents were obtained from the United States government that indicate that elements in the U.S. Government, in the Bush administration, knew that there was a coup under way in Venezuela, and did not rise to support the current government.

Green Left - UNITED STATES: Venezuela and energy stability(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02)

And while Venezuela demonstrated that even in a crisis it would be a reliable source of energy for the United States, it was prevented from providing humanitarian assistance to those who direly needed it.

Unfortunately to the detriment of the average American, this partnership continues to be impeded by the Bush administrations adversarial relationship with Venezuela and her political and economic aspirations.

With Venezuelas December presidential elections drawing near and all polls showing that Chavez will likely win by a wide margin once more, respecting the will of the Venezuelan people and their democratically elected president is the best way for the US to secure energy stability far into the future.

In comments published Monday in the London-based Financial Times, the United States came out swinging, saying it was creating a policy to "contain" the leftist Chavez in the face of his alleged dedication to fostering leftist subversion among other Latin American countries.

Chavez has accused the United States of trying to incite a war with Venezuela and went as far to allege Washington was intent on killing him.

Among Washington's concerns about a heavily armed Venezuela is the possibility of conflict between the leftist Chavez and neighboring Colombia, led by right-wing Bush administration ally Alvaro Uribe.

The United States, bordered by Canada to the North, and Mexico to the South, possesses a diverse landscape, ranging from the rugged Rocky Mountains and deserts in the west, to flat plains of the mid-west to the long sandy coast lines along the Atlantic and Pacific shores.

The country is divided into 50 states and is home to many large metropolitan cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Denver to name a few.

Since the United States is such a large country, we have listed some attractions in the Denver area and in Florida where our Spanish language programs are located.

Chavez has spent billions of oil dollars on education, feeding and housing the people of his country in order to rebuild the situation in his government which was inherited from the previous government that had channeled much of the country's resources into a few hands," Galvan said.

Venezuela has accelerated the process for indigenous tribes to be recognized by the government, while in the United States the strategy is delay.

Venezuela's Bolivarian Constitution establishes indigenous rights of territory, intercultural and bilingual education and local political representation.

Venezuela Constitution of 1864(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02)

The boundaries of each State will be those which the Law of the 28th April, 1856, announced to the Provinces, when it fixed the last territorial division.

The boundaries of the United States, which compose the Federation of Venezuela, are the same as those which, in the year 1810, corresponded to the ancient Captaincy-General of Venezuela.

The States, which may have availed themselves of the power accorded in the preceding Article, will retain their votes for the Presidentship of the United States, for the nomination of Senators, and for the empowerment of voters for the High Federal Court.

Venezuela, owner of CITGO Petroleum Corp., has sent hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to the region hit by Hurricane Katrina and offered low-cost heating oil and gasoline to poor communities in the United States.

Venezuela owns CITGO Petroleum Corp., which has eight refineries in the United States, and has set aside up to 10 percent of its refined oil products to be sold directly to organized poor communities, and institutions in the United States without intermediaries.

The first speaker was a Native woman, one of three indigenous representatives in the Venezuela Assembly (or Congress), who gave testimony to advances for indigenous people.

A major obstacle to the recruitment of IASP members in the first two years was the restriction on the availability o f foreign currency imposed by the Venezuelan government from 1994-1996, which made it difficult for Venezuelans to pay their IASP dues.

It is a joint activity of AVED and the Faculty of Medicine at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, with financial support from Hoechst Marion Roussel.

As reported in the 1996-1998 AVED report, these efforts were described at the V Reunión de Cuidados Paliativos, Chile, where Venezuela was signaled as one of the four Latin American countries which have made advances in the treatment of cancer pain.